That is good news for Club members who collectively anteed up about $2 million in 1993 for capital improvements to the island's amenities. Original Full memberships in The Club were priced at $16,000. Today new members are paying $22,800.

The villa rental program managed by The Club at Seabrook was a significant contributor to the bottom line. Villa nights, the measure of tracking the number of rental nights for a villa in the 180 unit villa rental program, increased 4.6% in 1996, according to Poupore.

For 1997, Poupore is expecting another strong showing. Projections for villa nights were increased another 4% for 1997 and the average villa rental rate was increased 5.3%.

Poupore, expects increased rentals in the Charleston resort markets to be across the board. July is the biggest month for resort and vacation rentals in Charleston. However, in 1996, Poupore felt the Olympics stole some business. With nothing remotely similar for the '97 season, he expects the peak season will get back to normal.

Bill Daniel, General Manager and a partner with Ravenel Associates, concurred, saying "last year was very good for us, with a 6% increase from the year before, we expect '97 to be ahead by about 5%." Daniel bolstered his projection saying that year to date bookings were already ahead of bookings for the same period last year by 8%.

The biggest impact to last year's season, according to Daniel, were the two hurricanes that threatened the Charleston coastline. In July, Hurricane Bertha was the first foul weather threat. Later in September, Hurricane Fran forced an early evacuation plan that cut sharply into revenues though it spared the Charleston coast.

With more than $800,000 per year budgeted to market their villa rental program, Daniel commented that competition for the tourist dollar is not only local, but national. Citing Amelia Island and Hilton Head as the two most competitive destinations with the Charleston beach market, he also views both the cruise line industry and Disney as major competitors.

"Most families only take one vacation a year," said Daniel. Comparing rates with those for a stay in New York City, he added that a family vacation to the beach is not discounted travel. "The smallest one bedroom oceanfront villa is $190 per night. When I go to New York, I look for a room at $125 and get discouraged when I have to pay more."

Even with competition and peak season rates, Daniel sees growth in the market, due largely to interest in off-peak golf packages. As a result, bookings in the two shoulder seasons March, April, May and September, October have increased dramatically. Ravenel Assoc. recently added a full-time golf package coordinator to take advantage of the seasonal interest. Daniel added that with the increase in the shoulder season bookings, total villa night rentals for many villas average up to 30 weeks.

PRICES AND OCCUPANCY ARE UP

Occupancy is especially strong at Isle of Palms, rivaling Kiawah's occupancy rates. This is largely due to that most of the rentals at Isle of Palms are oceanfront and stay rented.

Commenting that vacation rentals for homes at Isle of Palms are up 50% compared with this time last year Daniel does not see that rate continuing, but fully expects an overall increase of 20% in bookings of homes by year end.

Ravenel Associates, like Seabrook Island Resort, is increasing villa rental rates across the board. The average villa rental rate for 1997 will increase by the following (see Figure 1): Seabrook 2% 3%, Kiawah 4% 6%, Isle of Palms 6% 8%.

While everyone agrees the vacation rentals are booming, challenges in the market still exist. Even with nearly year round golf and temperate winters, booking vacation rentals from November to February remains difficult. "With holidays and football season, it's tough whatever you do," said Daniel.